Noob Exhaustion

Today was my first lesson of Karate in Japan, but before I get to that it was also my first time in the uni pool. So basically the best way I can describe their system of getting into and out of the pool (yes theres a system for this too) is a series of checkpoints. Checkpoint one is to sign in at reception and receive a locker key. On the way downstairs to the pool change rooms you take off your shoes and stow them on a shelf. Once you enter the change room you of course change and bring with you your student/pool ID cards in a thin water tight bag. Then you proceed to showers, followed by stepping up into a footbath and then down into the antiseptic bath this is shared with females. From here is quite a flight of stairs to pool deck with a trap. It's like an Indiana Jones moment if your not used to it, as your walking up two shower heads turn on and splash you (they can't really clean given that you are walking through them. Anyway after that you check in your bag on pool deck and receive a band that has the same number as your locker, finally you enter the 2m deep pool (no shallow end). Probably the two most weirdest things however are 1. There are no designated speed lanes....lovely 2. This pool employs a one way lane system i.e. you dive in and swim one lap, then you need to change lanes to come back to the side you dived in at. Me being me I of course went against the system and nearly collided into someone. That was when the staff guy pointed that part out. I swam about 2k but I was feeling fine so off to Karate I went.

So the first thing I did when I rocked up was walk into the head sensei's change room, a black belt explained that the change rooms were in the dojo. And to my shame 80% of the people came early so they all saw that. After a short self warmup class warmups began. For warmups sensei counts 1,2,3,4 and we join in for 5,6,7,8 if he counts slow we don't bother. Today we basically when through Kihon which is basic movements (I should at this point say that 80% of the class were black belts including some non-Japanese and 10% were brown belts, so it doesn't stop when you reach the top, hah that rhymes). Every move was first done slowly then more quickly, and then full speed with Kiai (kick ass shout that makes babies cry, but seriously the strength of the fighter is determined by their kiai, it is the show of your fighting spirit, kiai weak = techniques weak). After each type of technique we get a breather, you might think this is easy since each set is only about 25-30 reps of 1-2 techniques. Guess what, it ain't, the last time I went to Karate class was just under 2 weeks so I most likely didn't lose much endurance, thanks to my sensei in Australia who by the way kicks our arses as it is to keep us in shape. After 45 minutes of that I was sweating and breathing hard. After that Sensei got serious...combos...went down to half the reps but double the techniques and one step forward. My legs were already burning from the lunge-style kizami zuki (off hand jab) we did before, now we had kicks, spinning, stepping that's just killer. I should also mention the fact that my lungs pretty much decided to stop working half the time. Basically they were going beyond their current limits and started to seize now and then. Before I died, it was Kata time. We went through the three higher Heian- Katas, then Sensei took just the black belts through a Kata. We non-black belts returned to perform the highest Heian Kata, Heian Godan. Lungs still were somewhat back to normal, but Sensei had a cure for that. Ippon Kumite, I think this is the right name, anyway basically we found partners and practiced a few combos that we had practised earlier against actual people. After 3-4 sets it was time to bow out, and with that my first lesson was over. To be honest I think it was wishful thinking on my part to swim before class, my endurance is not that good yet it seems. By the way incase anyone is wondering why I didn't pace myself, if you are going to pace yourself in a martial arts class don't bother coming you're wasting your time (unless its skipping thats different, I hate skipping by the way).

Since I would be going to karate quite often I decided to walk to the nearest station I can use my student commute card, which was about 40-50 minutes away from my dojo. Needless to say after taking my 3 trains to get home, and finally seeing my bed. I dropped onto it and slept 2 hours easy. Tomorrow is Sunday so church time for me yay!